On Thursday, the cabinet approved the granting of insurance company sickness benefits for the self-employed after two weeks of sickness. This was announced by the Minister for Social Affairs and the Minister for the Self-employed, Maggie De Block and Denis Ducarme.
Currently, when a self-employed person falls ill and has to stop work, he must support himself and his needs for a month. This is because he only has the right to sickness benefits paid by his insurance company, after this deadline, also known as the waiting period. These two ministers consider that this period is too long. So as avoid the financial issues involved, some self-employed individuals are not taking days off for sickness.
From January 1st, 2018, self-employed workers will receive the benefit after two weeks of sickness. The measure will be to the advantage of 17,006 of them. Some 14,172 of them, incapable of working for more than a month can benefit more quickly from their sickness benefits. Moreover some 2,834 such people, with a work sickness incapacity duration comprising a period of 15 days to one month maximum, will also benefit.
Some nine million euros will be devoted to this measure next year.
The Brussels Times
